After a week of pondering and some chatting with Sunshine, I am here attempting this again. My main problem was that the pear taste was coming mainly from the pear brandy. My pear sauce was just too wimpy. Yes, I know pears have a mild flavor, but for there to be no flavor? Unacceptable!
So I made pear sauce with bosc pears rather than anjou. I stuck with the cinnamon and ginger spices and a splash of lemon juice, deleted the water and remembered to throw in the vanilla bean. All simmered on the stove on low. After 30 minutes, I did a taste test and realized that the vanilla bean needed to be removed. So out came the vanilla bean and in went a tablespoon of sugar. The cooking continued. Another 15 minutes passed and another taste test. PEARS! I could taste PEARS. Hurray for me! The pears cooked another 15 minutes. I drained the liquid off and saved it in a bowl to use in the pound cake and mashed the pears.
Now to use my wonderfully tasty pear sauce in the pound cake. The recipe is going to be barely changed though. Just because my pear sauce is so lovely and needs to be given a shot.
Pear Pound Cake
2 sticks butter, room temperature
3 cups sugar
1/2 cup pear sauce
6 eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1/4 cup pear brandy
1/2 cup liquid reserved from pear sauce
Preheat oven to 325*F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan or 2 loaf pans.
Combine butter, sugar and pear sauce. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Sift together the salt, baking powder, ginger and flour. Add dry ingredients to the batter, alternating with brandy and liquid from pear sauce. Begin and end with dry ingredients.
Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Do check for doneness. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes and then invert onto cake plate.